Discurso e medicalização: O significado do TDAH para pais e mães de alunos do Ensino Fundamental

Abstract

The objective of this research is to identify and analyze the meaning of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on reports from parents of children who received this diagnosis. Since the late twentieth century, more precisely the last thirty years, the number of ADHD diagnoses has been increasing as part of a growing process of pathologization and medicalization of behaviors. In this process, the school appears as the primary targeting agent of children for health professionals, confirming reports that link the educational space as a player of the scientific-medical discourse, without a proper consideration, contributing to maintain the separation and discrimination between those considered normal and "abnormal", those who distance themselves from their standards. To carry out this research, we conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with parents of primary I school students, from public schools and a private clinic for specialized treatment. It is a qualitative research oriented theoretically and methodologically by Social Discursive Psychology, which emphasizes the importance of language and discourse in understanding the psychosocial processes, developed by English authors such as Jonathan Potter and Margareth Wetherell. The majority of respondents passively accepted, without question, medical diagnosis attributed to their children and the use of psychotropic medications as a means of eliminating the learning and behavioral problems of their children, a fact that highlights the value and power of the medical discourse in our social context.